Eraser (1996)

A Witness Protection specialist becomes suspicious of his co-workers when dealing with a case involving high-tech weapons.

Director:

Chuck Russell (as Charles Russell)

Writers:

Tony Puryear (story), Walon Green (story)

Stars:

Arnold Schwarzenegger, Vanessa Williams, James Caan

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 3 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Arnold Schwarzenegger	...	U.S. Marshal John 'The Eraser' Kruger
James Caan	...	U.S. Marshal Robert DeGuerin
Vanessa Williams	...	Lee Cullen
James Coburn	...	WitSec Chief Beller
Robert Pastorelli	...	Johnny Casteleone
James Cromwell	...	William Donohue
Danny Nucci	...	WitSec Deputy Monroe
Andy Romano	...	Undersecretary of Defense Daniel Harper
Nick Chinlund	...	WitSec Agent Calderon
Michael Papajohn	...	WitSec Agent Schiffer
Joe Viterelli	...	Tony Two-Toes
Mark Rolston	...	J. Scar
John Slattery	...	FBI Agent Corman
Robert Miranda	...	Frediano
Roma Maffia	...	Claire Isaacs

Storyline

U.S. Marshal deputy John Kruger is one of the toughest Marshals, his methods are to "Erase" The identities of his witnesses he is assigned to protect. Meanwhile, a woman named Lee Cullen who works for a corporation named Cyrez performed an undercover job for the FBI to unveil a top secret weapon which uses an electromagnetic pulse to dispatch targets. Cyrez discovered this about Lee and are now out to kill her, Kruger's job is now to protect Lee so she can testify against Cyrez. But, when Kruger was assigned to perform a job with another Marshal named Robert Deguerin, he discovers that Deguerin is behind some kind of scam that will involve the EM Gun, which will change hands to a Russian criminal if Kruger does not stop them, Kruger must not only protect Lee's life but his own.

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Plot Keywords:

witness protection program | rogue agent | fbi | treason | railgun | 

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Taglines:

He will erase your past to protect your future.

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Genres:

Action | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violent action throughout and some language

Details

Official Sites:

Warner Bros. [United States]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 June 1996 (USA)

Also Known As:

El protector

Filming Locations:

Santa Clarita, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$100,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$24,566,446, 23 June 1996, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$101,295,562

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$242,295,562

Company Credits

Production Co:

Kopelson Entertainment, Warner Bros.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

115 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital SDDS DTS

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This is the second film where Arnold Schwarzenegger's character spends time in a drag club. The first was Raw Deal (1986).

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Goofs

The type of parachute in the parachute scene is seen as round which has no controls, yet Kruger, when seen in close-up, has controls and is able to turn the parachute to face the plane.

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Quotes

Lee: [On the computer on Donahue's office] How are we doing ?
John: You were right about Donahue, he left himself a back door. But we've still got to break his code.I'd figure we've that we have about five or six minutes until they trace us.
[scrolling through the records]
John: Do you recognize any of this?
Lee: No. But, we're getting warm, it's an accounting format.
John: Okay, stop me if I get lucky.
Lee: Now those are offshore banking deposits here it is UBS, that's United Bank of Syria.
John: $52 million? If it's an arms sale, ...
[...]

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Connections

References Terminator 2 (1991)

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Soundtracks

Caught A Train
Written and Produced by Trevor Rabin

User Reviews

Arnold Knew How To Make Entertaining Films

A decade ago, this Arnold Schwarzenegger action flick was fairly hot stuff but I wonder if it would have the impact today since special effects are so much better and we've seen so many of these type of action stories in the past 10 years.

One of Arnold's keys to his successful career in films was simply that his movies were entertaining, and that's why people come to the theaters. High-brow critics often forget that. "Eraser" is a prime example. Entertainment alone is how this particular movie survives since common logic doesn't exist while violence and profanity are overdone. But, despite it's low-brow tastes and stupidity, it's still generally fun to watch if you can put your brain on hold for two hours. It's also fun to hear if you have a nice surround system.

This movie has one of the most outrageous action scenes I've ever seen on film, even to this day: one in which Arnold hangs from the outside of a jet airplane, finally lets go, free-falls to catch his parachute that had been ripped off, and then has to worry about the jet plane which had circled around and was going to smash him!!

The audio came into play nicely each time the super rifle that was featured in the movie was shot. Vanessa Williams plays the female lead satisfactorily and James Caan is very effective as the villain. Robert Pastorelli and James Coburn also add to the fun. A few laughs along the way help this no-brainer to become even more entertaining.